MySpace goes mobile

MySpace announced it’s releasing a free advertising-supported mobile beta version of its popular social networking site. The mobile version, which can be accessed from cell phone browsers at mobile.myspace.com, offers up many of the features you can find on MySpace.

MySpace says you can send and receive messages and friend requests; comment on pictures and profiles; post bulletins; update blogs; find and search for friends; and view or change mood status. You can’t upload pictures directly from your phone, however.

I tried it out this morning and I’ve had trouble pulling up my friends’ pictures. I’m not sure that’s going to be the best use of MySpace Mobile anyway. It’s better to just keep up with messages or check out your friends’ moods.

At any rate, it’s nice to see MySpace making its way on to cell phones for free. It’s another case of advertising helping bring free services to mobile. Fox said it will also be offering free ad-supported mobile versions of its web sites FoxSports, IGN, AskMen and RottenTomatoes.com in the coming months.

MySpace has previously offered its service through carriers like AT&T, T-Mobile and Helio, but those have been paid premium subscription services that are often integrated into the phone menus. With the free service, you’ll want to bookmark the site and you’ll have to get a data plan most likely, but overall it’s not that hard to access.

Fox Interactive Media, which owns MySpace, said it’s working with Millennial Media to sell ads on MySpace and MySpace Mobile. There doesn’t appear to be ads now on the site but Fox said it will start selling “charter sponsorships” for the mobile site soon and also begin selling more targeted ads on MySpace Mobile by the end of the year.